1 Kings 3

1Solomon allied by marriage with Pharaoh king of Egypt, took his daughter, and brought her to David's city until he finished building his house, the house of Yahweh, and the wall around Jerusalem.

2Only the people sacrificed on the high places, because no house had been built for the name of Yahweh until those days.

3Solomon loved Yahweh, walking in the statutes of David his father; only he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

4The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifice there, for it was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

5At Gibeon Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream one night, and God said, "Ask what I will give you."

6Solomon said, "You have shown great mercy to your servant David my father, just as he walked before you in truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart with you; you have preserved this great mercy for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as today."

7And now, Yahweh my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, while I am only a young lad; I do not know how to go out and come in.

8Your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people too numerous to number or count.

9Give your servant a hearing heart to judge your people, to discern between good and evil, for who can judge this great people of yours?

10The thing pleased the Lord because Solomon had asked this thing.

11God said to him, "Because you asked this thing and did not ask a long life for yourself, nor riches for yourself, nor the life of your enemies, but asked for yourself discernment to hear justice."

12See, I have acted on your words. See, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that no one like you has appeared before you, nor will anyone like you arise after you.

13I have also given you what you did not ask, both riches and honor, so that no one among the kings will be like you all your days.

14And if you walk in my ways to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.

15Solomon awoke, and behold, a dream. He came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the Lord's covenant, offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and prepared a banquet for all his servants.

16Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

17One woman said, "Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in one house, and I gave birth with her in the house.

18On the third day after I gave birth, this woman gave birth too. We were together, with no stranger among us in the house—only the two of us in the house.

19This woman's son died during the night as she lay on him.

20She arose in the middle of the night, took my son from beside me while your maidservant slept, laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom.

21I got up in the morning to nurse my son, and there it was—dead; but when I examined it in the morning, there it was not my son, the one I had borne.

22The other woman said, “No, my son is the living one and your son the dead one.” This one said, “No, your son is the dead one and my son the living one.” They spoke before the king.

23The king said, "This one says, 'This is my living son and your dead son,' and this one says, 'No; but your dead son and my living son.'"

24The king said, "Bring me a sword," and they brought the sword before the king.

25The king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other."

26The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king, for her compassion yearned over her son, and she said, "Oh, my lord, give her the living newborn and the dead one to me; do not kill it." But this one said, "Let it belong to neither me nor you—divide it."

27The king answered and said, “Give her the living child, and do not kill it at all. She is its mother.”

28All Israel heard the judgment that the king had rendered, and they revered the king, for they perceived that God's wisdom was within him to execute justice.